Wake Up
by happy-camper
Summary: Just a short one chapter. So short you should just read it!


I don't own anything to do with the matrix or anything like that...thought the only thing I use is the Matrix universe and not the characters!  
  
This is just a short single chapter story. It's not so much the story as the idea within it (Sorta like a Philip K. Dick book-though I'm definitely not comparing my writing to this wonderful writer!). I hope you like it...I've been putting off finishing it for a long, long time and now I finally have!

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_Wake Up..._

_By Happy Camper_  
  
That blurry-eyed, fuzzy headed feeling. Waking up. I must have over- slept. There's light shining in from behind the curtains. It's late. What was I doing last night?  
I sit upright in bed and suddenly memories...jumbled memories, disjointed. I was on my way...the meeting. An old abandoned apartment block, boarded up windows and a woman dressed all in black.  
Red pill or blue pill? I don't remember anything after that. I don't remember taking either...maybe I was drugged. Months of questions and finally close to an answer...and now nothing.  
  
_What is the Matrix?_  
  
What is the matrix? A question that has plagued me for months. An ache in my stomach, a yearning for the answer tells me that I still want to know. Endless hours at the computer. My mother worried. Endless searches probing every corner of cyberspace. A search that was ultimately fruitless and unfulfilling.  
I came across names and found e-mail addresses. There was never a reply. These were people who never existed...or who didn't want anyone to know that they ever had.  
The weeks passed. I was going around in circles and suddenly I was back where I had started. It seemed that the longer and harder I looked, the fewer people had heard of the question, the fewer people who could point me in the right direction.  
And then one night, black...a blank screen with green type. A message. _If you want to know the answer meet us in one hour._ I had a choice. I went.  
I am left without an answer. Rage rushes through me a moment, I want to throw something...but I restrain myself. I feel somewhat light headed. It must be this feeling of confusion. I went...I remember that much...remember the strange woman dressed in black. They offered me answers. I was a fool to think that they would give me any. Did they drug me? A moment of panic...maybe they did things to me while I was...drugged? No, no, no...no?  
Did I take one of the pills?...yes...yes, I think I did. Which one? The door opens and I jump in fright. My mother...my heart pounds in panic. She smiles at me half-heartedly. It's time for school. I don't want to go...but I get up anyway. I rub sleep from my eyes and dress in the clothes that lie rumpled on the floor. I don't care.  
Something feels wrong to me. Things are...off. Like I'm still asleep and I don't realise it. I'm just tired, that's all.  
Everyone in school keeps asking what's wrong. I rarely speak to them and yet they sense that something is different. Something about me is different. I barely notice them, it surprises me that they have noticed me.  
A gap in your memory is very disconcerting. It makes you unsure of yourself. I cannot even guess at my own actions. But then again, what happened to me last night? Nobody cares about me.  
I can't distinguish between what happened and what didn't. I remember leaving the house. I remember it was cold, I had brought my black coat with me and...an umbrella? I was afraid it might rain.  
When I get home I look for my coat. It's gone. It should be hanging on the back of my bedroom door, like it always is...but it's not. Maybe I left it somewhere, maybe someone took it last night. I don't remember that either. Since waking it has been the longest time I have not been at my computer, looking for answers. There is a more important question at the moment though...what happened last night? Last night seems almost within my grasp. Like the dream when you wake, I can't remember, but I almost can.... I don't seem to be making much sense.  
I lie on my bed, stare at the ceiling, think things over. I like having time to just stop and..._think_. Something by my computer grabs my attention. It's strange, it isn't a sound or a flash on the screen, it's nothing, yet it gets my attention just the same.  
I'm sitting in front of the computer screen, just sitting. I'm not doing anything and then I notice the key. It's balanced on top of the monitor. It's nothing special, just a regular door key. I don't know where it came from. It wasn't there a second ago.  
It looks like it might fit the bedroom door. Why should I put it in the keyhole? Why should I close the door and turn it? Why should I open the door again? Why should any of this be happening? There's a white corridor outside my room. There shouldn't be.  
I step out...doors as far as the eye can see. Left or right? It somehow doesn't matter and so I start walking. Dreams can be funny sometimes. I often wonder where my subconscious gets these strange stories. But there is something different about this particular dream...I'm awake.  
The corridor is infinite...a physical impossibility. The doors are all identical. I don't know which door I came through, I don't know which door I will take. Which door? The question is answered for me. It's just like all the others...but this is the one that I'm meant to take.  
Stepping through the door I'm in a white room. The man in the neatly pressed suit stands straight in front of the door, another door behind him. He half smiles. _Right on time_. He didn't say the words but I heard them.  
"Wh...why am I here?" The sound of my own voice almost startles me. It sounds so much louder than I meant it to.  
_ We finally got around to you. We weren't really prepared for the number of unpluggings these past few weeks. A huge number you see._  
I stayed silent, a confused frown spreading across my face. I don't understand and before I can express this he explains.  
_The rewriters have changed your life. You never existed as far as the others are concerned. You need to go through this door. It's time for you to go. I don't know if it really counts as being deleted...deleting a copy, you know?...I mean the real you is still out there._  
And I stare at him thoughtfully a moment. I still don't fully understand. I don't know what's on the other side of that door but I step towards it anyway.

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I know this was a little weird but it was just a little idea I wanted to put out there. Please review, your opinions are important, good or bad it will help to improve my writing! (Just please be constructive and not just mean!) 


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